WEBVTT - Charles Brockman III From Starting Blocks to Social Clicks 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.000 What do you think was the difference for you? Like, 0:00:02.040 --> 0:00:04.680 what do you think was it grace of God? Was 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:05.800 it something special you did? 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:05.960 Like? 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:08.320 Why do you think because Burbs is big? Yeah? 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:09.560 That was my first bro? 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:11.120 How you doing? 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:16.520 You just got abs and hair and followers at the bird? 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:37.040 God just give him everything? What up? Y'all? 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.080 Welcome to Not My Best Moment with me kep on Stage, 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:43.519 a podcast where I talk to artists, athletes, entertainers and 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:47.840 personal friends people I admire about their failures, based off 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:50.240 my book Successful Failure, which by the way, is a 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:52.919 New York Times bestseller if I do say so myself. 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:57.000 Today we are joined by Charles Brockman, the third. Two 0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:59.760 other Charles Brockman's before him, and there may be many 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:01.920 more after him, but he is a third. You might 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:06.280 know him by CB three on social media. He's an actor, writer, director, 0:01:06.440 --> 0:01:09.800 singer and parody content creator. You may have seen him 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:11.960 in his short Thanks for Listening. You've also seen him 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:15.319 in The Burbs, Bougie, Bloody Mary, and Locked Up for Christmas. 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.039 You've probably seen him down to the TikTok, the Instagram 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:20.800 reels or YouTube shorts. I found him down on the 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:23.840 TikTok and down to the gram. He has an incredibly 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:28.080 popular YouTube channel which has over six point seven million 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:34.720 subscribers and down to the top eight point eight million subscribers. 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:38.040 Because Charles is so very talented, please welcome Charles bark 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:38.559 On the third. 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:39.560 Thank you? 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.600 Now? Should I call you Charles? CB three? CB three 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:43.479 the third? 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:44.680 All of them work? 0:01:44.720 --> 0:01:45.800 All right, I'm gonna call you c B. 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:46.600 There you go. 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:50.880 We found Now we usually talk to either content creators, 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:55.600 actors or athletes. Fun fact, prior to any of this, 0:01:56.440 --> 0:02:01.280 you were an athletes. Athlete, okay, current right now, as 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:06.920 we live and breathe today, you still hold the Mississippi 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:10.639 State freshman record for the four hundred meter hurdles at 0:02:10.840 --> 0:02:13.960 fifty zero point three six seconds. 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:16.960 Yes, I ain't know you was no athlete. 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:18.639 A lot of people don't. 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:20.280 You were a hurdler. 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:20.880 You know. 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:21.880 My wife was a hurdler. 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:22.640 No, I didn't. 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:25.120 She ran the three hundred lows in high school. 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:27.359 They wanted to run the you know, they go open 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.880 quarter in college, but she was like, I don't want 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:31.839 to run with them girls. They faster than me. I said, 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:33.399 you fast. She used to run the four by one, 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:35.800 four by four. Her sister was a four hundred runner. 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:40.240 The four hundred hurdles is a very difficult event still 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:41.320 technically a sprint. 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.920 Anything under four hundred is technically a sprint. How was 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:45.799 it growing? 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:47.560 Because if you have the record, that means you were 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.720 a star athlete for a very long time. So take 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:55.079 us back to Charles Brockman the athlete before we gets 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:56.840 to Charles Brockman the entertainer. 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:57.720 Wow. 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:03.519 Yeah, I started when I was seven, so I'm almost 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:07.080 twenty seven now, so you know, to put that into perspective, 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:10.120 I ran until I was about twenty two. I did 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:12.080 a lot of other sports before track, but once I 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:13.960 reached that, you know, I was like, this is what 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.560 I'm great. At my very first year, I did long 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:18.560 jump and I made it to State not knowing what 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.120 I was doing. I literally was just running and jumping 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:24.160 at seven. At seven, you may have just state the 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:28.840 first year. Yes, my very first year doing track, I 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.320 did long jump. You couldn't do hurdles until you were eleven, 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:33.800 so I mean that's really why I didn't start into it. 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:35.920 But long jump was the first thing I did the 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:38.480 four hundred and two hundred, so I was like a 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:41.200 sprinter and long jumper and I made it to State 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.320 and then scratched all my jumps because I didn't know 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.640 what I was doing. But it was still a great experience. 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:50.080 It taught me so much of like sacrifice doing it from. 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:50.760 Such a young age. 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:54.320 Yeah, it's translated such, you know, so much into my 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:56.400 daily life now, Like I owe a lot of that 0:03:56.520 --> 0:03:57.840 to being an athlete. 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:01.600 I was curious about that, like specific, because one would 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:06.280 think athletics in content creation acting are very different worlds. 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:11.360 You don't see that many successful athletes become actors and 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:15.680 vice versa. You see, you know, singers can act, that's 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:19.160 very common, but athletics in content creation is not as common. 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:22.080 There are some people who do well in both, but 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:25.479 you wouldn't the common mind wouldn't think the correlations. But 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:28.599 what correlations do you think helped you from you know, 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.279 a high level athlete to high level content creator. 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:35.760 I would say just the focus and dedication. When I 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:38.800 put my mind to something, I do it. You know, 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:40.960 I tend to do it also because yes, track is 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.200 an individual sport, but when you get to the higher level, 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:48.040 you're competing for your team, like your school, and that's 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:51.280 a pressure within itself. Just figuring out like how can 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:55.440 I be my best and also contribute to this team 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.400 and compartmentalize all the things that I need to get done, 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.279 like the practicing, the rehab, all of the things that 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.040 go into being an athlete. So I translated that into 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:09.239 content creation, specifically early on when I was managing myself, 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:11.600 when I was creating my own you know, skits and 0:05:11.640 --> 0:05:14.760 scripts and everything while still being in college. So I 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:17.120 would practice and go to class and then come back. 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:19.479 It would be maybe seven PM, but I would I 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.760 would write, I would film, edit, post all in the 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:25.320 same day. And I did that for a very long time. 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:30.159 So wait a second, I thought you had there was 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:36.840 no crossover. You were you were record holding ability track athlete, 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.479 right and content creator? How long have you been making. 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:41.840 Content since twenty fifteen? 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:45.560 I will say in twenty eleven years so we were sixteen. 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.120 Yes, yeah, I was my first YouTube video. I was 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:53.400 probably sixteen fifteen years old. And that was just like 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:56.960 very fun up until around twenty twenty two. Like when 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.120 we get into that, you know, it was just fun 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:01.960 and I was, you know, once twenty twenty came, I actually, 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:03.640 you know, they sent us home because of the pandemic. 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:05.280 We can run, we couldn't go. 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:09.120 To school or in person, so right, right, So it 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.240 took a year away from our eligibility, but it was 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.400 given back to us. So in that twenty twenty time frame, 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:17.880 I got on TikTok and then that's really the type 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.080 of content that you see now. Started in twenty twenty, 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.800 but in twenty fifteen, I started with music and other 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:24.960 skits and things. 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.840 How do you how do you decide? 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.480 Because you're so talented at so many different disciplines, how 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:34.760 do you decide what I'm gonna do? Or is it 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:36.760 better for you because you're so good at so many 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:38.479 different things to be able to say, oh, I'm finish 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:40.119 sing for this, I'm going to write this short film. 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:41.840 It's just gonna make a funny TikTok. I'm gonna do 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:44.119 a parody. You know, Like, how do you even decide? 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:45.839 Or is just like whatever you feel that day or 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:46.400 that moment. 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.279 You know, I'm still learning. I'm still figuring that out. 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.120 I think the good thing about having the talents, like, 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:54.280 you know, as long as you, I guess practice them, 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.840 which is also another thing sports teaches you practice and everything. Yeah, 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.200 they never really go away. You still have them. So 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.800 I stopped. I didn't make a music cover or a 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:08.760 song or even wrote since about twenty twenty one, and 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.720 within the past like five weeks, I've just now started 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:15.400 to get back into sharing music and you know, writing 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.720 more and you know, singing more. So you know, that 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:20.760 was just off of me, like just trying to get 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.000 back into why I fell in love with entertaining and 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.160 you know, because I think it really started with the 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:29.560 acting and singing, and I was like, I'm neglecting this 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:34.520 whole aspect of my creativity. So yeah, it just really 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:37.640 depends on what I'm achieving and what I feel like 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:41.040 I haven't touched in a while. And if I'm doing 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:42.800 everything at once, then it's like, Okay, what do I 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:44.040 want to take to the next level? 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:45.800 Bring everything else. 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:51.360 Up to So you went to Mississippi State D one. Yes, 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:55.880 scholarship athlete. Yes, I imagine, I didn't want to assume. Yeah, 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:00.400 that means you probably got offers from everyone. What made 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:04.760 you decide on Mississippi State? Actually you didn't get offers. 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:08.000 I didn't get offers from everyone as one might think. 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:10.920 One might think, you know, I usually you get D one, 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:12.080 you get multiple D one. 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:16.000 Yeah, so I got the interest letters. They send the 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.040 questionnaires to like every junior in high school that's running 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:19.960 at a certain level. 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:21.960 You know, you fill out a questionnaire. 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.280 You say like what your event is, what your goals are, 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:27.040 what you want your major to be, and then you 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:28.360 send it back to the school. 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.000 I would get them from all of the schools. 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.559 So like when I made this graphic of like all 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:36.680 the letters that I had received, even football players. 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.200 Do that take a picture with all the letters. 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:42.560 Those aren't offers, you know, maybe Capain well sometimes sometimes 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:44.280 Little cat Boy. 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.319 Offer you. They just said if you want to come. 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:51.280 Maybe because you only take five I mean, let me 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:53.640 speak for track, because I don't know everything for every sport. 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:58.080 For track, you take five official visits, and those by 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:00.920 then the only schools that really offer for me anything 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.040 or like took the time. It's not like I had 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:04.840 to like say, oh, I got to put these to 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:06.120 the side because I gotta choose these five. 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:07.079 It was literally five. 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:11.240 It was Mississippi State, North Carolina, Texas A and m 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:15.600 Alabama and Baylor kind of they wanted me there, but 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:16.959 they didn't want to pay me my first year. 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:19.719 There's a lot oh wow, but. 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.920 Yes, Mississippi State ultimately was my choice because they had 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:28.040 a strong hurdle crew and they had the closest to 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:29.760 my major. I really wanted to go to Texas A 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:36.199 and M, but I would have to do like agricultural journalism. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:37.959 and I just was like I was fighting it. 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.240 So that was a little bit of a hard decision. 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:42.880 So I was there. 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:45.280 I was at Mississippi State for two years and then 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.240 went to the University of Texas u T. 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:50.599 Yeah, Austin t ain't. Nobody told me nothing. 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:52.120 Did the transfer really? 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:56.120 Yeah, So yeah, it was interesting being the number one hurdler, 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.679 like on paper, a combined hurdler, at least the one 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:03.200 ten four hundred hurdles. Like I've won Junior Olympics in 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:07.560 both every year. Maybe one year I got like second 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:09.880 or third in one of them. But yeah, to not 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:13.240 really feel like I was getting recruited by the huge 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:14.920 schools like Oregon or even. 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:15.560 UT at first. 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.640 Yeah, but that just goes to show because at that time, 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:21.840 you know, UT didn't have the coach that I transferred into, 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:23.880 so maybe that one wasn't interested. 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:25.800 But the one that I eventually met was. 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:29.080 So you were junior, you were winning the Junior my 0:10:29.080 --> 0:10:32.720 my niece's nieces and nephews who run track. 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:37.240 You know, Texas relays, all that stuff. 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.480 We My wife was like, I said, a track runner. 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:40.880 My family's a lot of tracks. I've been to a 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.839 lot of track meets hate, the track meets love track. 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:48.000 I don't like untimed sports. Yeah, now track is technically timed, 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:51.360 but track meets I mean you you might as well 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:51.960 just move in. 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:54.800 Yeah, and you gotta run the mile coming up? Fun 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:57.000 a cover for the thirty two and get the thirty 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:58.400 two hundred on another trap. 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.040 Imagine being seven and I wanted to go to a 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:04.360 birthday party and it's seven am and you're there until 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:05.000 seven pm. 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:08.040 The thing I went through it all. 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:11.760 Yeah, Texas heat in Texas? He so, is that where 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:12.760 you were raised? 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:13.320 Yes? 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:16.800 See, Texas is between Texas, California and Florida usually got 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:18.280 the best runners. 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:23.319 You've just seen, is it gout? Gout? He's like a 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:24.920 sixteen year old sprintcess. 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.920 Yeah, I haven't I know him being a phenomenon. 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:32.160 He's phenomenon. Yeah. So let's back up. Yes, you are. 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:35.800 You are a Junior Olympics winning the Junior Olympics. You 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.520 are a Mississippi state freshman record holder. 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:43.800 You are on track to go pro as a track athlete, right, which. 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:47.880 Means you know, diamond relays in Europe, sponsorships, Olympics, all 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:52.840 that type of stuff. Your career is derailed by injury 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:56.600 or you're he were hospitalized. Yeah, tell us what happened, 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.240 Walk us through where you were in that time frame, 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.120 because you have a clear vision of your your path 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:04.240 and then that becomes very cloudy. 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.080 Yeah, it's it's interesting because I almost have to call 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.119 it an injury because if I just say a mystery illness, 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.720 like I still don't really know, No one really knows 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.280 what happened. But basically that was a tough year anyway, 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.520 because it was twenty twenty two. I didn't get COVID 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:22.719 when it first the first big wave, but I got 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:24.960 it in twenty twenty one and in twenty twenty two, 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:29.360 and twenty twenty two was my last year, so getting 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.640 that right when season was starting. My first race, I 0:12:32.720 --> 0:12:35.600 ran great the day before, and then when finals came, 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:39.840 I was like super sick. Didn't really know what it was, 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:41.960 you know, And that was like my first outdoor race, 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:45.640 So then after that I was out. Then I had 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.480 an ankle injury and it's just all it's just super 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:51.640 physical things that like set me back. So I was 0:12:51.679 --> 0:12:54.000 really proud that I made it to the NAA. I 0:12:54.080 --> 0:13:00.440 mean not into blazps NCAA tracking peek and you know 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.200 I made it. I was like, I finally, you know, 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:05.200 I'm back at Nationals. I hadn't gotten to you know, 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:07.840 running a while, and I made it. So it was 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.400 really feeling good. And then the day before I felt 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.199 kind of off traveling because we travel a few days before. 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:16.880 But it was like I just had a headache, maybe 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:19.800 if I felt like I might have a fever. But 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.160 that day before, like I was just like doubled over 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.640 in pain, Like it felt like I was getting stabbed 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.439 in my stomach. Oh my god, everywhere just on fire, 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:32.120 and it just would not go away, to the point 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:33.920 where I was like I have to go to the 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:38.800 hospital and I get there, they are doing all these tests. 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:42.439 I'm in there all night, all day, and they still 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:44.679 really can't tell me what it is. They're like, it's 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:46.679 not you don't have COVID. It's nothing like that. It's 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.199 not the flu. Maybe you have like crones or like 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:53.120 something like that. Because it was it was that type 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:58.400 of issue pretty ongoing after that. So the next day 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.080 it was time to run and they gave me. I 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:06.480 was on drugs, so I felt better, and you know, 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:08.560 being a team player, I was like, I can do it. 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.079 I can do it. I ran and I got last 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:15.480 place out of everybody, like by a long shot. 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.280 And I know that had to be an unusual feeling 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.120 for you. Yes, were you feeling fast or were you 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:21.720 running like. 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:25.640 Oh my gosh, this is not I was feeling like practicing. 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:28.480 I knew I was off, but more so like if 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:31.520 you get top because this was also prelims, so all 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:33.720 I had to get was like top eight, and then 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:35.400 I would make it to the finals and I would. 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:37.680 Score eight of your heat or eight overall. 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.360 Okay, so maybe like out of twenty four, I had 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:44.240 to get eight, I believe, or nine because that track 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:46.360 had nine lanes, so as long as you made it 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:48.240 to the finals, you would score. So that was my 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:50.640 coach's biggest thing, like if you can run, I really 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:52.760 would love for you to run so you can potentially 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:57.200 make finals feeling even better and then score helping us win. Yeah, 0:14:57.240 --> 0:14:59.080 so I was down for it. It's not like I 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:02.240 felt super four, but I knew. When I got on 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.400 that line, I was like, yeah, nope. 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:07.000 So I started. 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:08.960 I was doing my best, and then once I got 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.160 off that second curve, I was standing in place and 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.800 it was still going, and I just I haven't even 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:18.280 watched that video again because I'm like, it might not 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.960 even be as bad as I'm thinking. To lose by 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:24.600 that much when I had such high hopes for sure, 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.880 you know, it just it was insane. So I just 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:28.760 was like, yeah, I can't do anything. They wanted me 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:30.920 on the relay, but after they saw me, they were like. 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.560 Yeah, you shouldn't help us at all further. Yeah. 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:35.200 Yeah. 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.640 And then my roommate got it whatever, well he got something, yeah, 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:41.280 and so he thought whatever I was going through, I 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:43.760 gave it to him whole time. It was just a 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:48.040 very weird like year for nationals for the University of Texas. 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:53.160 So when do you realize that that illness plus the 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.600 ankle injury was gonna impact your trajectory because you know, 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:58.640 like say you hurt your knee orp your ankle or 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:00.520 showed it like you know, okay, for six weeks, I'll 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.160 be back. Yeah, this is not career ending, right, Like 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:05.960 when you realize hold on my my career might be 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:06.960 impacted by this. 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:08.640 How did that settle into you? 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.640 The ankle injury was mostly settled by then. That was 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:15.360 kind of the least of my worries because I was 0:16:15.400 --> 0:16:19.920 still running, you know, with that illness, because I was 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:22.080 in and out of the doctor so much and them 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:22.960 not really telling me. 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:24.760 They just really did not know. 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:26.480 They were like, the most thing we can relate it 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.320 to is like altert of colitis or crones or something 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:31.920 with your intestines. You know, how to do all the 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.120 tests and all the labs and everything. 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:37.400 It was like, I'm on hold. So it's like I'm 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:38.360 not running. 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:42.520 I don't feel like I can run. And I think 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.880 the first time I touched the track again after June 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:50.840 of twenty twenty two was January or no, maybe December 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:51.720 of that same year. 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:52.600 Wow. 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:55.880 Yeah, And that's a long time for you, for sure, 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.160 running for my whole life, you know, and taking that 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.680 much off. But also it was that blessing in disguise 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:04.760 because I never had a summer off, you. 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.680 Know, since you were seven. Yeah, I shock kids a 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:08.280 summer sport. 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:12.120 Yeah, And summer sport if them kids be hot, yeah, 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:14.520 and blazing heat, you got to run at the time. 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:15.600 I mean to top of. 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.960 The day, right, swattering heat or swattering humidity. Yeah, so 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:21.080 what you from seven to How old are you in 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:24.960 this time? Early twenties, Yes, twenty two. I'm twenty two 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:25.800 when I finished. 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:29.080 So that's fifteen years of no summers off. 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.480 Right, Yeah, no summers off whatsoever. I for sure like 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.040 Junior Olympics would end around maybe this first week of 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:36.800 August school would. 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.760 Be starting, but I would still have that little bit. Yeah, 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:40.440 we had. 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:42.720 Like a well, honestly, we really didn't do too much 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.560 because all the traveling for TRACK was was the fun. 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.160 Like we might extend the trip and stay a few days, right, 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:50.040 you know, but it was never like We're going on 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:54.320 a family vacation. So I remember that year after that, 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:58.359 I took every vacation possible. We went to Mexico. That 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.280 next month, I went to SA Fest in New Orleans. 0:18:01.720 --> 0:18:04.119 I went, we went somewhere. I went to Kansas for 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:05.200 a family reunion that. 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:05.840 You was just picking. 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:11.320 I was just picking, you know, No, no, my mom's 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:14.439 from there, but yeah, we I hadn't gotten to go 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:16.679 to that reunion in a long time, so it was 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:18.080 like we were just doing stuff. 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:20.080 I want to take a quick break from the show 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:44.159 to hear from our ad sponsors. Did you when you 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.639 were growing up, were you like regretting this part like 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:49.720 your you know, your school friends are just going to 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:52.919 Disneyland or six Flags and you were training or racing 0:18:52.960 --> 0:18:55.359 or running. I mean, I imagine you enjoyed track, but like 0:18:56.280 --> 0:18:58.040 you missing out on stuff. Did you Did I ever 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:00.480 feel like that or you like, nah, this is track, 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:02.320 I like, you know, competing that type of thing. 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:02.959 Yeah, I was. 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.679 I was very locked in to where a lot of 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:08.959 you just make friends with your teammates, so it's like 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:11.800 I'm having a great time like practicing every I get 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:13.560 to go to see them every day, like when we 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:16.760 go to the track and practice. For the most part, 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:19.600 it did get more on the lonely side, even in 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.720 high school because I would be one of the few 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:25.440 that made it all the way to like Junior Olympics. 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:27.840